Information : Community College Partnership

Tobyhanna Army Depot has begun the process of workforce revitalization in an effort to implement multiple programs for acquiring and retaining employees through the depot’s College Partnership Program.

The demographics of the workforce population of the Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD) indicate a migration towards an aging workforce. Statistics show the average age of a TYAD employee is currently 47. In 2006 the projected number of personnel eligible to retire is 765 (22% of the workforce) – a number that will increase to 1612 (46% of the workforce) by 2011. The increase in retirees has precipitated a workforce revitalization effort at TYAD to fill the void left by retiring employees.

TYAD has taken a multidiscipline approach to hiring competent employees and retaining them by joining the Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance Electronics Training Consortium and the Scranton Chamber of Commerce Electronics Committee. Additional workforce revitalization efforts include the Teacher-in-the-Workplace Program, Tech Prep SMART events, school visits with representatives from local colleges, and the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP). The SCEP was implemented in 2000 with the intent to develop highly skilled employees through a partnership with TYAD and three local colleges offering an associate’s degree in electronics. The program has grown to 13 partnerships since its inception. SCEP’s 1-to-2-year program provides full-time work during the summers and school breaks and part-time work during the school year. The incentive for participants is employment at TYAD through a noncompetitive conversion to career-conditional status upon graduation. Students enter the workforce as trained electronics workers, electricians, engineers, machinists, logistics management specialists, safety specialists, carpenters, and management analysts – most as a WG-08 earning an annual salary of $35,800. More than 150 TYAD employees have participated in the SCEP to date.

TYAD’s efforts to revitalize its workforce have resulted in an increase in the number of younger, skilled employees receiving associate degrees.